RJD, allies slam journalist for tweet on Rabri Devi

Leaders of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and its allies in Bihar on Friday slammed a derogatory tweet about RJD chief Lalu Prasad's wife and former Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi by a senior journalist of a Hindi TV news channel.

With the Lok Sabha polls underway, Rabri Devi has been attacking and targeting her political rivals, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, through her Twitter handle.

Nishant Chaturvedi, who is the editor of a Hindi TV news channel, retweeted a small piece that questioned Rabri Devi's academic skills and mocked at her ability to use Twitter.

"So, Rabri Deviji also tweets. Can anyone tell her to just spell out the word Twitter thrice," he tweeted on a post by Rabri Devi that mocked PM Modi.

Replying to Chaturvedi's post, Rabri Devi wrote: "Son, I have seen a lot of journalists like you. I was democratically elected the Chief Minister of India's second-largest state for eight years. Why are you pained if I question Modi? Are you okay?"

Rabri Devi's younger son and Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav also questioned Chaturvedi.

"So what motivated you to spend your precious time in asking a former CM to pronounce a word? Have you ever asked any elite upper caste politician from your pay master's party who are less educated than my mother to pronounce a word? It reflects your casteist, racist and classist mindset," the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister tweeted.

RJD allies -- Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief and former Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha and Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi -- said the incident exposed the mindset of a section of pro-BJP mediapersons and the respect they have for a woman politician from a Backward Caste.

Last month, a senior anchor of a TV news channel addressed Lalu Prasad as "Lalua" drawing angry protests from the RJD cadres.

--IANS

ik/rtp/bg